Using a virtual learning environment to develop academic writing with first year dance students: facing the challenge of writing through digital images.

This paper discusses research into the facilitation of academic writing for first year dance students using images, emails and the forum of a Virtual Learning Environment (VLE). Taking place over several weeks in the early part of the academic year and within a core module entitled Personal and Professional Development in the single honours Dance Practice and Performance degree, students were asked to contribute to a series of formative tasks implemented through the University of Wolverhampton���s VLE entitled ���Wolverhampton Online Learning Framework��� (WOLF). Employing an Action Research methodology and working with both Academic Literacies theorising and research into VLEs in literacy learning, early results indicate that writing in a less formal collaborative space provides an important preliminary setting for introducing formal academic writing